Fort of Mt. Festa

Monte Festa Fort, built between 1909 and 1914 within the framework of the “Upper Tagliamento-Fella” fortress system, stands at 1,065 metres above sea level and is therefore the highest-sited Italian fort among those dating from the early twentieth century in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

It was also the most powerful, thanks to its two permanent medium-calibre batteries and its important commanding height, which allowed it to exercise devastating fire over the road junction of Carnia, the Tolmezzo basin and other possible targets in the Tagliamento and Fella valleys. To reach it, a 10-kilometre military mule track was cut from Bordano, later transformed into a road around 1940.

Monte Festa Fort was never disarmed and in November 1917 it succeeded in hindering the Austro-German advance. The garrison numbered fewer than 200 men, commanded by Captain Riccardo Winderling. They managed to hold back the enemy army for almost a week until, having run out of ammunition and being by then completely surrounded, part of the garrison attempted to escape in order to rejoin the now distant lines of the Italian army.

Monte Festa Fort is one of the most evocative Great War sites in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The CAI 838 path and the original military road lead to the saddle at 980 metres above sea level, where the first remains of the complex begin to appear: the ruins of quarters for troops and officers, stables and other service buildings.After these, the road continues to the summit where the fort proper stands. Immediately visible are two caves used as hoists and ammunition stores and, higher up, the platforms for the external battery of four 149 mm cast-iron guns on the right and the armoured battery on the left. Its covering was partly altered by interventions carried out during the Cold War. Between the two batteries, the remains of the cableway that linked Monte Festa to Amaro, about four kilometres away in a straight line, are still visible.